WL 1 Match Report

We had a full squad of 15 which was great as it meant
fresh legs throughout the day. It also allowed us to
play straight up man-D all day, which suited us fine.
The roster for the day (in no particular order) was
Luke, Chris G, Pasta, Mark B (with hangover), Kieran G
(with no sleep), Steve (looking surprisingly fit),
Canadian Andy and Ian Cooke from Fire, Irish Al and
Fergus, Paul G (who must hate the fact he had ot leave
before the final), Alejo, Sam, Capetown Matt and
myself. The scores below are approximates from memory.
Anyone is welcome to correct them if necessary.

Game 1: Rev 13 - Curve 2

We played very well together coming straight out of
the gates. Sharp cuts and throws and committed
defense. Curve scored 1 cheap point sometime in the
second half and 1 great point with a layout on the end
of a cross field hammer. It basically took that level
of risk for them to beat us.

Game 2: Rev 13 - Ow! 5

We got off to a good start again, with something like
4-0 up in about 10 minutes against a quick and young
Oxford team. They came back a little bit to get a
couple of points before the half, and then got some
momentum going late in the game that tested us. We
basically upped our D massively in this game, closing
out almost everything they tried. They scored all
their points on Hail Mary passes. Our offense looked a
little looser than it should have been, with some rash
decisions, but it was still enough for a comfortable
win.

Semifinal: Rev 13 - Brighton 8

Luke and I both admit to hating Brighton for being
unconventional. They pulled out the usual bag of daft
throws and poaching D to trade with us up until about
4-2, after which we started really burning up on O and
scoring 3 points to their 1. Once we noticed that a
good swing across the field and the occasional long
throw was all we needed to get around the semi-clam,
the outcome was never in doubt.

Final: UCL 11 - Rev 8

Lots of stories to tell about this one. Closely fought
all the way, no quarter given and no holds barred.
This was the kind of ultimate I love to play. It was
great to score against UCL but also great to see how
strong they have become. In the end, the fact they had
played together this season much more than we have
told in the end and we failed to make up a 4 point
deficit we gave up in the first half. I'll invite
everyone to add their own notes on the game in this
thread. I quite like the fact that I manage to close
out both Jack and Matt Ayre on D for about 6 points,
which is hard work, believe me. I also hold my hands
up for being useless at the front of stack. I must
never play there again.

On a more practial note, Rev needs to work on flow out
of a vertical stack. The horizontal stack also paid
dividends for us, suiting our make up of strong
throwers who can break the mark all the time, and fast
cutters who can eat up 40 yards in 5 seconds. I also
noticed that the sidelines were a major asset on D.
The more switched on the sidelines were, the quicker
we got our turnovers.

I hope that Rev rises to the challenge and trains hard
to get a win off UCL the next Winter League. I also
hope UCL takes the win and builds on it with greater
confidence and ambition.